"Of course... it's fine."
Andrew snapped his fingers, and the hatch behind him opened. The Mother Box was soaking in a special green liquid that kept it from communicating with the outside world.
"That's a relief."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. If all three Mother Boxes had been stolen, Earth would have been in trouble.
Iron Man said irritably, "We got careless this time. We didn't expect the Mother Boxes to send a message ahead of time, and Steppenwolf moved far too fast. The whole thing took less than a few minutes.
"He hit us with a blitz and snatched two Mother Boxes in one go. How embarrassing."
"This was definitely our mistake."
Everyone nodded. Still, even if they hadn't been careless, they couldn't have kept a whole group of superheroes at the Mars Base for months. They would have had to rotate shifts.
Andrew said casually, "He planned an ambush while we were unprepared. It's only natural that we fell for it. Fortunately, Steppenwolf didn't succeed completely. Without the last Mother Box, he can't open a Boom Tube."
"That's a silver lining."
Iron Man said, "Andrew, I'll start preparing right away and try to destroy the last Mother Box. I haven't tested it, but I'm at least fifty percent confident it'll work."
"Fifty percent? Those are pretty good odds."
Andrew said, "Once you're ready, we'll destroy the Mother Box immediately. Half the other superheroes will keep guarding Earth, and the other half will guard the Space Fortress. As soon as we've destroyed the Mother Box, we'll go after Steppenwolf."
Everyone nodded. Just then, Alice said, "Boss, Steppenwolf is calling."
"..."
Everyone looked astonished. They had just said they were going after Steppenwolf, and now he was calling them. What a coincidence.
Andrew said, "Put him through. Try to